And here we are again. My mind has been really active as of late with regards to new ideas for fics... but unfortunately, none of that energy has generated anything new for my ongoing ones. So, as usual, I'm putting that energy to use, in whatever form it arrives as, and posting theme here. Hence the triple update. Enjoy!

Summary: Boudicca, queen of the Celtic Iceni Tribe, lead a revolt against the Roman Emperor Nero in 60 AD. Unfortunately, her efforts ended in familiar, and she died shortly afterwards... or so history says. Now we say what really happened to her, as she fights yet again in a land beyond her imagination.

Drifters: A New War in a New World

Chapter 1: The End of a Revolt

Britain, somewhere between present-day London and Wroxeter, 60 AD

The anticipation of a battle never ceased to thrill her.

To know that, very soon, you would be charging forward towards your enemies, weapon in hand. The two sides would meet metal clanging and battle cries ringing as you dealt death to each other. And whoever stood victorious would be the one to decide how history remembered that day, while the losing side would be bereft of that choice. It was exhilarating. Her tribe had no strangers to violence, and their cause in this fight was just. Today, they fought for their honor, for their vengeance.

For their freedom.

Looking back at her troops, the woman saw that they were just as eager as she. Spears and shields glinted in the sunlight, axe and daggers were freshly sharpened, leather armor cleaned and ready. They didn't have as many weapons as they used to, having been disarmed before the rebellion began. But they had enough, as well as far greater numbers.

The woman herself was unusually tall in stature, with pale skin and piercing brown eyes. She wore a dark blue tunic with black pants, over which was a mantle held in place by a silver brooch. The hood of the mantle was not up, enabling her long, tawny-colored hair to reach her waist. Around her neck was a gold necklace, attached to her back was her own spear, and hanging from her waist was a sword made of iron.

This woman was known as Boudicca, widow of King Prasutagus and queen of the Celtic Iceni tribe.

This battle was the latest in several conflicts between her forces and that of the Roman Empire. When her husband passed away, he wrote in his will for the kingdom to be jointly ruled by Rome and their two daughters. However, the Empire refused to acknowledge her children as rulers due to being women, and forcibly annexed the kingdom, just like their had done for much of Britannia.

To add grievous insult to injury, the three of them were captured during the takeover. Her daughters had been raped by the Roman soldiers, while she herself had been stripped and publicly flogged. If the conquest of her own home hadn't been enough, this was enough for Boudicca.

While the local Roman governor was off on the island of Angelsey, she led her tribe and several others in revolt. They completely destroyed Cauldunum, a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers and the site for a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. They then continued on and did the same to Londinium, Verulamium, and the entire 9th Roman Legion, Hispana. In total, almost eighty-thousand people had fallen to Boudicca and her army of rebels.

Now, governor Suetonius had managed to regather his forces, and were waiting for them. As much as she hated to admit it, the governor had chosen the spot for the battle wisely. The Romans were in that gorge with a forest behind them, opening out into a wide plain. The gorge prevented the Celts from flanking them, while the forest would severely hamper any attacks from behind, and the plain made it impossible to ambush them.

But Boudicca would not give up just because the enemy had the advantage. This rebellion had been an uphill battle from the start, and now, if they were able to kill Suetonius, they could end it once and for all.

Deciding that now was as good a time as any to give her speech, she drew her spear and held it high. "We all know why we are here. Emperor Nero and his soldiers have taken our land, declaring it their own and feeding off of it like the parasite they are. You all know who I am. Some of you see me as your queen, while others simply see me as their commander. And indeed, it from a royal blood that I do descend."

"But!" she said, grabbing their attention. "It is not as woman descended from nobles that I fight as today. Today, I fight as one of the people, avenging my lost freedom, my scourged body, and the chastity of my children. The Romans have allowed the lust to go so far that not our land, our age, our virginity or even our land has been left unpolluted. The gods side not with these mongrels, but with those who seek righteous revenge!"

She pointed behind her with her spear, towards the other end of the field. "An entire legion tried to stop us and failed. The rest now hide away in their camp, ready to flee if not for their governor keeping them in place. We are thousands strong! They will not pause our charge, soften our blows, or quiet our cries. In war, you must conquer or you must die. I choose to conquer and to live! Tell me, which will you do? Will you die, or will you have freedom?!" she called.

"FREEDOM!" the rest of the soldiers roared, cheering and banging whatever weapons they had against their shields.

Boudicca smirked and nodded, before turning around. "Freedom it is, and death to Rome with it! Now, CHARGE!" she yelled, and ran forward. The rest of them were right behind her, a veritable tidal wave of flesh, armor and bloodlust.

Once their reached the gorge, the Romans were there, just as planned. Suetonius had placed his legionaries in tightly formation, with the auxiliaries only lightly and the cavalry placed to either side. As they drew close, the legionaries held up their javelins, and threw them once the Celts were close enough.

Blood flew in the air as the missiles pierced flesh and bone. If someone was unlucky enough to be pierced in a vital spot, they died quickly afterwards. Otherwise, they were forced to stop and either break off the head of the javelin or just yank the entire thing out before continuing their charge.

Entering the gorge caused them to become more densely packed then they had been in the field, and thus the javelins killed more people than expected. Still, neither the Celts or their leader faltered, and were upon the Roman soon enough.

Boudicca cackled as she swung her spear. The metal head of it rent their flesh apart, letting blood flow out like water. She stabbed one though the stomach and, using the strength granted by her size, picked the man up before flinging him into his comrades. More tried to attack her in response, but she sent her spear through the neck of one man. It went clean through and pierced the face of the one behind him, killing both.

She could feel her blood boiling as she killed. With every Roman life she ended, a sense of euphoria filled her, a kind of ecstasy that could only be obtained in the heat of war. The scars from her flogging seemed to burn as she moved, but she knew he pain was only imaginary. And even then, it only acted as a spice to accentuate her glee.

Eventually, the legionaries ran out of javelins, and moved forward in a wedge formation. While Boudicca was able to tear through the enemies before her, the rest were not as skilled. With better armor, better weapons and more discipline, the Romans began to push back the Celts. And that was when the cavalry joined in.

Atop their horses and wielding their lances, the Roman cavalry tore through the rebels just as easily, if not even easier, than the javelins. One of them managed to catch Boudicca with a long slash to the arm, but she responded by drawing her sword and stabbing the horse in its hindquarters. It whinnied and reared up in panic, causing the soldier to fall to the ground. She cut open his stomach and left him to bleed out, even she began to fall back with the rest of her forces.

Eventually, they were forced back out into the open field, where the cavalry had even more room to maneuver. Warrior after warrior was killed, and morale quickly began to plummet.

"Your Majesty, we're losing too many people! We need to retreat!" one of Boudicca's subordinates told her.

She released a legionary she had just killed, and whirled around. "Retreat? Have you gone mad?! If we lose here, Suetonius will walk all over us until the end of time!" she yelled.

Even as she said though, however, she could see that her warriors were starting to run anyway. Too many of them were dying without taking enough Romans with them. The cavalry was still slaying Celts left and right, and the ones making up the wedge formation kept moving.

Gritting her teeth in anger, she said "Dammit it all! Fine, retreat!" She sheathed her sword and joined the rest of them in running. However, once they came back to where they started, she realized a serious problem.

Before the battle, they had placed their wagon train in a crescent formation around the field's edge, so that their families could witness the battle. However, now that they were retreating, those wagons now served as a barrier, preventing them from getting away.

'I need to give them time to get away,' she thought, turning and re-drawing her sword. She leapt at the first legionary she saw and cut him down, before liberating another one of his arm and then his head. Another soldier leaped onto her from behind, and she caught a glimpse of a dagger out of the corner of her eye.

With a feral growl, she reached behind her and pulled the solider of her back. A quick snap of the neck and he was gone, and she threw his body at another that tried to killer her. But then a cavalryman struck and knocked her sword away, leaving her open. Before she could close her guard with her spear, he lunged off of his horse and stabbed her in the midsection.

"RAARGH!" Boudicca yelled, slamming the butt of her spear into the legionary's nose. She let go of his lance and staggered back. While he was dazed, she ripped the lance from her stomach and used it create a new hole in his head.

He fell, but now that she had been injured, more soldiers crowded around her like sharks. Using her spear and her stolen lance, she was able fight off anyone who came before her. But the ones that struck from behind or the sides were luckier, and managed to get a hit in every now and then. The number of wounds kept growing, and as they did so too did the rate at which she lost blood. And there more blood Boudicca lost, the harder it was for her to stop her enemies from getting another hit in.

She shouted and was able to finish off the last solider from the mob that surrounded her. But that was not the last solider at all. In fact, besides the ones that were already dead, most of the Romans were still alive. Meanwhile, her people were being massacred. Not just the other soldiers, but the now-fighters and children in the wagons, even the pack animals. All were being killed.

"No…," she muttered. She couldn't let this happen. She still hadn't killed Suetonius for everything he and the Empire he served had put her people through. Her people hadn't gotten their freedom back yet. They couldn't lose here!

She looked around for her sword and, finding it under the body of her comrades, she bent down to retrieve it. As she stood back upon, a wave of light-headedness hit her, and she stumbled backwards. 'My wounds,' she thought, looking down. She was covered with various lash or stab wounds, her armor was all but ruined, and the necklace she been wearing was long gone.

She took an unsteady step towards the wagon train, ready to help her subordinates get away. But walking was much harder than it had been before. It was like stones had been wrapped around her ankles. The muscles in her arms were also burning, even more than her scars.

But none of that mattered. She had to help her people. She needed to help them. She… She was… She…

She was so tired.

Where that thought came from, she had no idea, but once it was there it stuck. A simple nap sounded divine right now. A nap in her bed back home, her husband alive and well again, her daughters still pure and smiling at her as she drifted off…

Boudicca fell to the ground. Even the dirt and grass felt soft now. Soft enough for her to sleep. Yes. Sleeping is what she'd do…

"Next, please."

But sleep was not what awaited her.

And that ends this plot bunny. This one came after watching the anime Drifters, and has been stewing in my head for a while. Now it's published, and I can get back to my other fics. Hope you enjoyed it.

Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku (I'm just kidding... or am I?)